With a 19-second lead over his closest rival, Andrew Barker of the U.S. National Team will now wear the Tour's brown jersey. Andrew should certainly be happy with his convincing individual time trials victory today. The Americans captured first and third place, while the New Zealanders came second, fifth and sixth. Stage 3 of the Tour started 500 meters underground this morning and finished 14.1 km later at the Cité de l' Or.

With a time of 2 minutes 18 seconds at the exit of the mine and an excellent time of 20 minutes 51 seconds at the finish line, Andrew Barker set the pace. Teammate Charles Avis, last year's winner of this stage, took third place allowing the U.S. National Team to hold on to second place in the overall standings.

Scott Mullaly's second place finish and the results of his teammates allowed New Zealand to move from seventh place to third in the overall standings.

Austrian Marco Haller crossed the finish line in twentieth position and holds on to the orange jersey, a mere 3 points between him and Scott Mullaly. The blue jersey went to Anders Newbury of team Baraboo Sharks, who took fourth place in a time of 21 minutes 16 seconds. As for Abitibien Pierrick Naud, he finished in a time of 22 minutes 17 seconds, placing him twenty-first overall in the general standings.

Stage 4

Confronted with their first steady rain, the riders formed a compact peloton for the major part of stage 4. In spite of this, Marco Haller demonstrated his superiority by finishing the 52.2 km race first. He also won the stage sprint at the 14 km mark of the race, cashing in on the accompanying bonus. Thus, the Austrian won his second gold medal of the Tour de l'Abitibi 2009 and retains the orange jersey.

Haller's teammate, Martin Weiss, was able to weave his way to the front of the peloton and capture second place. He was followed closely by Kyosuke Kasahara, the first Japanese rider on the podium this year.

Dominated a few times by the U.S. National Team, this second stage of the day finished as it started, in a single block of riders who will all receive the same finish time of 1 hour 7 minutes and 41 seconds. The brown and blue jerseys therefore remain in the hands of the same riders, Andrew Barker of the U.S. National Team and Anders Newbury of the Baraboo Sharks.

A few riders attempted going solo for short periods during the race, the longest being Team Quebec rider, Philippe Lacasse, who rode in front for 5 km. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, but a two bike crash momentarily upset the peloton.

Tomorrow the city of Rouyn-Noranda will host the fifth stage of the Tour de l'Abitibi 2009. The starting time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., in front of l'Université du Québec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue. The riders will cover 101.5 km on Highway 117 before arriving in Val-d'Or and completing three, 3.3 km laps of the urban circuit.